Wireless radio frequency communication systems enable people to communicate with one another over long distances without having to access landline-connected devices such as conventional telephones. While early systems were primarily configured for voice communications, technological improvements have enabled the development of “3-G” (third generation) and similar wireless networks for both voice and high-speed packet data transfer. For example, CDMA-based, “1×-EVDO” (Evolution Data Optimized, or Evolution Data Only) wireless communication networks, now implemented in many parts of the U.S. and elsewhere, use the CDMA2000® 3-G mobile telecommunications protocol/specification for the high-speed wireless transmission of both voice and non-voice data. 1×-EVDO is an implementation of CDMA2000® that supports high data rates, specifically, forward link data rates up to 3.1 Mbit/s, and reverse link rates up to 1.8 Mbit/s in a radio channel dedicated to carrying high-speed packet data, e.g., a 1.25 MHz-bandwidth (or greater) radio channel separate from the radio channel for carrying voice data.
In 3-G packet data networks, e.g., those using the Internet Protocol (“IP”) for data transmission generally and voice over IP (“VoIP”) for voice-data transmission, data is broken into a plurality of addressed data packets. The data packets, both voice and non-voice, are then transmitted and routed over an IP-based communications network, where they are received and reassembled by the access terminal to which the data packets are addressed.
A wireless communication network such as a cellular phone network typically includes one or more fixed base stations each with a base station controller and various transceivers and antennae for carrying out wireless, radio-frequency communications with a number of distributed wireless units. The wireless units may include mobile phones, wireless PDA's, wireless devices with high-speed data transfer capabilities, such as those compliant with “3-G” or “4-G” standards, for example, “WiFi”-equipped computer terminals, and the like. The base stations are in turn interfaced with a core data network and/or public switched telephone network through one or more network controllers or control centers, which act as the interface between the wireless/radio end of the network and the landline portion of the network, including performing the signaling functions necessary to establish calls and other data transfer to and from the wireless units. The network controller may be part of the base station equipment, or it may be a separate mobile switching center (“MSC”), radio network controller (“RNC”), or the like that services a number of base stations.
In a wireless communication network, an application running on an external application server, connected to the Internet may communicate with a mobile client through the core network by transmitting packets over the network. In a typical wireless communication network, flow of a packet from the application server to the mobile client will first be routed over the Internet to the wide area network's (“WAN”) home agent. The packet is then routed to the Packet Data Servicing Node (“PDSN”) and on to the Packet Control Function (“PCF”). From the PCF, the packet is sent to the Radio Network Controller (“RNC”), which transmits the packet to the mobile client through a Base Transmission Station (“BTS”).
Wireless communications between the base transmission stations and wireless units are carried out using standard methods depending on the type and configuration of the wireless network. For example, the network may be a GSM network, a 1×-EVDO network, or the like. GSM is the Global System for Mobile Communications standard, used predominantly in Europe and Asia. 1×-EVDO is an implementation of the CDMA2000® “3-G”/third generation mobile telecommunications protocol/specification configured for the high-speed wireless transmission of both voice and non-voice data, used in North America.
The air interface in a wireless network (e.g., the radio link between one or more fixed base transmission stations and various mobile or other wireless access terminals) is dynamic by nature, and thus, there may be occasions where not enough bandwidth is available to accommodate every active user according to target quality of service (“QOS”) levels. Additionally, even if bandwidth is available, there may be times when it is not possible to meet target or required QOS levels in transmitting data packets to a wireless access terminal, due to varying radio airlink conditions or the like.
In some instances, these problems may be compounded as a result of limitations in network electronic processing capacity. In particular, carrying out wireless packet data communications involves the ongoing electronic processing of large numbers of data packets. For this purpose, each element of network infrastructure (e.g., wireless units, base stations, RNC, etc.) will typically include one or more microprocessors or other electronic processing units. When network traffic load is heavy, processor resources may be overextended, e.g., in a particular leg/hop of the communication channel there may not be enough processing power to accommodate the data load according to required or target QOS levels.
Within a wireless network's service area, a mobile client can be in either an idle state where battery resources are preserved or a connected state where significantly more air interface resources are consumed. In the idle state, user data cannot flow, whereas data may flow in either direction in the connected state. Radio access network (“RAN”) resources are consumed not only in maintaining the connected state, but also in transitioning from the idle state to the connected state, in particular, for mobile terminated data where the mobile must first be located. Additional RAN resources are consumed prior to releasing traffic connection resources because an inactivity timer is employed to prevent premature release of resources.
Some applications with which a mobile client will transact may be classified as chatty or bursty applications. Chatty or bursty applications are characterized in that they have low average bit rates and large interpacket spacing, which makes chatty applications inefficient with regard to total data delivered per network resource used. The inefficiency of chatty applications, therefore, makes it highly inefficient to employ network resources to initiate or maintain a connected state solely for the chatty application. Furthermore, because of the inefficiency of chatty applications, wide scale deployment of chatty applications over a wireless network can compound the above-mentioned network resource problems by easily congesting an entire wireless network, resulting in flow drop and dropped packets, which leads to poor quality calls and unacceptable system performance.